


The Room

by Earth_Phoenix



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexuality, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Attend Hogwarts Together, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Friendship, Locked In, Tom Riddle & Harry Potter - Freeform, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 12:38:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16534718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earth_Phoenix/pseuds/Earth_Phoenix
Summary: Based on a Prompt I made a few months ago. Tom and Harry are both Ace and end up locked in a room together much their classmates amusement. Instead of the sex that their friends *think* would happen, instead a wonderful friendship blooms.





	The Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RedHorse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedHorse/gifts).



> Huge thank you to Copper for Beta'ing and to Ave for her wonderful advice of how to keep this Ace.

“Bloody Merlin!” Tom hissed as another of his spells faded into the wall harmlessly. 

Two hours. He had been locked inside this room for  _ two hours. _ No one had ever dared to lock him inside anything before. No lock had ever failed to open at his commands. He was going to murder the idiot Gryffindor that had thought of this. Dorea, he thought her name was. Dorea was now high on his ‘Kill List’ along with that girl that was into dolphins. Really into dolphins.

“The door isn’t going to open,” Harry Potter, the room’s other captive, had conjured a squishy bean bag shortly after they both woke, finding themselves trapped in this hell hole.

“Hexing it isn’t going to work. Sit.” Harry conjured another beanbag, green for Slytherin, and waited for Tom to sit on the thing.

Tom heaved a mighty sigh and sat down heavily.They sat in silence for a few minutes before Tom was on his feet again, pacing.  He hated the feeling of being trapped. For any length of time.

It wasn’t just that he was trapped. No. It was that whoever had trapped him and the Gryffindor had left behind the door. A door. Just one. One way in, one way out.

The door refused to open. Why wouldn’t it open?! How could Dorea’s magic outmatch his?

“Do you want to talk about it?” Harry was now sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking bored.

“Talk about what?” He had nothing to say to a Gryffindor.

Harry shook his head and sighed, “about why you’re so scared of small spaces.”

“I am not!” Tom swirled on the spot, staring the young Gryffindor down. Harry raised an eyebrow at the denial.

Tom smoothed down his pristine robes. “One - one day, I was locked in a cupboard overnight. I was five. I haven’t liked small spaces since.”

Harry patted the floor next to him. “That’s horrible. My relatives told me the cupboard was my bedroom. I slept in it until I started Hogwarts.”

Tom sat down, pulling his knees close to his chest. “Oh,” He screwed his face up. That was horrible. “I’m sorry.”

Harry shrugged. They lapsed into silence once more.

~*~

 

The minute hand on Harry’s watch had never moved so slowly. Every hour that slipped past felt like three. Tom had stopped pacing a while ago but had found a new way to pass the time -  _ complaining _ . 

“They could have left us with some books to read at least.” Tom was leaning against one the walls, hands clasped in his lap.

“Yeah, we could have burned them to make a fire.” Harry teased.

Tom narrowed his eyes at the other boy. “No. No burning books.”

“OK, fine,” Harry giggled, “I thought you’d read every book in the library anyway.”

Tom snorted. He had heard the rumours about himself of course. About how different and weird he was. The book nerd. The dark, evil mudblood. Poor orphan Tommy. “Hardly.” He spat, voice cold and harsh.

Harry winced. “Sorry.”

“No, I mean. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.”

Harry glanced sideways at Tom. He wasn’t much like the rumours made out he was. “So, what do you like to read?”

“Huh?” Tom blinked. Was someone - was someone trying to talk to him about books?

“I saw you reading Lord Bryon before, I just wondered what else you enjoy.”

“Oh,” Tom was a loss for words, someone had caught him reading Bryon and hadn’t made fun of him for it. He moved slightly closer to the Gryffindor.  “Well, as far as poetry goes, I do have a spot for Romanticism…” When Harry didn’t laugh or interrupt him, Tom allowed a small smile to grace his lips, before taking a breath and talking about his favourite poets.

 

~*~

 

“Considering that Merlin was a Slytherin, the house should be treated better than it currently is,” Harry said, some three hours later. 

“I agree, everyone thinks that cunning and ambitions are bad things, but they’re not. Not really.”

The two boys were sitting side by side comfortably. Enjoying each other’s presence.

“Dumbledore doesn’t help either,” Harry took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. As Headmaster, Dumbledore should be doing the most to spread inter-house unity. It felt like he was doing the opposite at times. “At least Professor Grindelwald is helping some.”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, having Gellert here really helps.” If Harry was shocked at hearing Tom using a professor's first name he didn’t show it.

“What do you plan on doing when you graduate?” Harry asked, picking dirt out from under his nails. Tom reached over and stopped him.

“First, gross, stop it and second - I have no idea,”

Harry did look surprised at this. “I heard you were Ministry bound.”

“I heard the same,” Tom huffed irritably. “Everyone expects me to join the Ministry and I don’t want that. I just need - time. Y’know? To figure myself out.”

“I feel that.”

 

~*~

 

“ - Obviously that was a clear foul and any decent ref would have given the Wasps the penalty. But then, he did take two bludgers to the face so maybe he wasn’t giving the game his full attention -,” 

Tom marvelled at Harry’s ability to talk breathlessly about Quidditch. Harry’s knowledge and passion matched his own passion for learning and literature.  

“- Oh and that feint,  _ amazing _ . That took some nerve.” Harry paused to take a breath. “You should come with me to the next International match. I love introducing new friends to Quidditch.”

“Friends?” Tom echoed softly.

“Friends.” Harry bumped into Tom’s shoulder, a smile on his face.

_ Friends _ .

 

~*~

 

Several more hours slipped by before the door that had refused to budge for so long crashed open, a loud buzzing of voices spilling into the room. The boys winced, having gotten used to the silence. 

“Harry!” Hermione threw her arms around her best friend, hugging him tightly. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t even know you two were in here -,”

Harry saw Tom walking over to his group of friends from the corner of his eye. The two locked eyes for a moment.

“It’s been fine, Tom was great company.”

Hermione frowned at him, looking between the two black-haired boys. “Sure,” she said doubtfully. “Anyway, Harry, the prank was just meant to be seven minutes in heaven - you know. A quick kiss - but erm…” Hermione drifted off uncertainty.

“Herm, no one even told us. We must have been knocked out because we woke up here.”

“Oh,” Hermione's frown deepened. “Harry that’s terrible. It’s been almost twelve hours!”

At this Harry’s stomach rumbled, informing him it had indeed been almost that long. “Oh.”

Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder, “Come on mate, let’s steal some food from the kitchens.”

 

~*~

 

“- We’re sorry Tom, it won’t happen again.” Draco looked ashamed, his hands shoved deep into his robes’ pockets. Tom glared.

“It had better not, what were you idiots thinking?” Tom demanded, nostrils flaring angrily.

Silence answered him. Some of the boys broke into muffled laughter. “Well, you know - we thought -,”

“- Potter is hot. You deserve to have some fun.”

Tom blinked rapidly; the amount of stupidity on display was astounding. “I would love to point out everything wrong with what you just said, but it might be quicker to crucio the lot of you.”  The boys paled and moved back a few steps.

“Well, did you at least get off?” Goyle asked stupidly. Tom narrowed his eyes at the youth.

“Hey, Tom.” From across the room, Harry waved. “Maybe I’ll see you at a match, yeah?”

Tom inclined his head at Harry’s offer. “Maybe.”

Harry smiled and allowed his friends to tug him out of the room, the noise of chattering students dying out completely as the Gryffindors left.

Tom turned his gaze back to his fellow Slytherins who were sharing looks with each other. Tom frowned. Was sex all they thought about? Didn’t they know there more important things to be concerned about? Teenagers!

“Just,” Tom rubbed at his temples, a headache coming on, “Just get out of my sight before I make you all suffer for your utter idiocy.”

His classmates scrambled out of the way and Tom was left alone in the cramped room he had hated a mere twelve hours ago. He took one long last look at the room and then stepped through the doorway.

 

~*~

 

“Oh come on, there has to be someone you can take to Madam Puddifoot’s,” Ron said, stuffing scrambled eggs into his mouth and chewing quickly.

The trio were having a late breakfast in the Great Hall. Potions was still another twenty minutes away. Gulping noisily, Ron wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Hermione pulled a disgusted face.

“It’s almost Christmas and she’s putting on a special event for couples, plus you can’t be single during the holidays.”

“Ron,” Hermione hissed, kicking the red head under the table “Leave Harry alone, he’ll find someone in his own time.”

Harry shifted in his seat awkwardly. Ever since he and Tom had been locked into that room whispers had followed them around. Classmates asked about the size of Tom’s dick and if he was ‘good.’ People implied with a laugh and a wink that they were a secret couple.

“I keep telling you, I am not interested in dating anyone.”

“You won’t always feel that way Harry, once the war is over you’ll want to settle down,” Hermione told him in a matter of fact voice.

“Yep and hell will freeze over first,” Harry muttered into his cornflakes. He pushed the dregs around with his spoon.

He jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. “Hello, Harry.”

“So you do have a date for Hogsmeade!” Ron shouted, eggs flying all over the table.

“Weasley you’re disgusting.” Tom sneered “Harry, I’ll meet you in Hogsmeade around noon?”

“Sure,” Harry agreed, keeping his eyes on his bowl so he didn’t have to look at Ron or Hermione’s knowing faces. Why couldn’t he just be friends with someone without also dating them? It was baffling.

 

~*~

 

Tom was relieved to find Harry alone when he reached the top of the hill that the Shrieking Shack stood on. The wild-haired gryffindor was leaning casually against the old wooden fence. 

“Hey,” Tom dropped his book bag by the fence and stood next to Harry, enjoying the friendly silence. It was one of things he liked most about Harry - Harry didn’t believe in filling every moment with pointless sound.

“I found out who was behind the prank by the way, it was Ron, aided by Fred and George of course.” Harry kicked at the ground in annoyance.  

“I shall have to repay them.”

“Oh, please do.”

The two lapsed back into a comfortable silence again for a moment.

“I, erm, brought you something.”  Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a thick leather bound book, offering the volume to Tom. “It was in the Potter vault, I thought you’d get more enjoyment out of it than I would.”

Tom ran a hand a gentle hand over the cover, his eyes glinting with excitement. “ _ Inferno _ ,” He breathed. He hugged the book to his chest. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It seemed silly to have it in the vault gathering dust when it could be being read by someone who would enjoy it.”

Tom wasn’t listening. He had opened the book to find it was filled with beautiful hand painted illustrations.

“Shall I read to you?” Tom asked, looking up from the book.

“I’d like that.”

Tom sat down carefully, the book balanced between his legs, his hands reaching into his bag for his notebook and quill. Spinning the quill between his fingers Tom Riddle was poised to take notes and read.

Clearing his throat Tom began.  _ “ _ _ Midway upon the journey of our life _

_ I found myself within a forest dark,...”  _

  
**A/N** : Credit of course to Dante for Inferno’s opening lines. 


End file.
